Li Meirong tapped her small chin with her index finger, then grasped lightly with finger and thumb as she contemplated potential names. Her eyes were slightly glazed until she came to a decision.
"Let's call you… Feng Huang!"
That was most appropriate, Li Meirong thought, since she had first assumed the turtle was a phoenix, and she drew her powers from the fire element.
The newly-named Feng Huang had her mouth hanging open in shock. It was difficult to understand how the happy-go-lucky girl had come up with such a ridiculous choice.
She was a turtle, right? So why name her after a bird?!
"I'm changing my mind," the turtle declared. "Who needs a name these days, anyway?" She definitely did not want to be named after a damn bird!
"Once a name is given, it cannot be taken back!" Li Meirong rebuked Feng Huang, her brow furrowed. Feng Huang's expression grew more miserable by the second, she had never heard of such a rule before!
'I've been conned!' the turtle thought miserably.
"Feng Huang."
"What?!" It was the turtle's turn to answer impulsively.
'Oh, no!' She had fallen for the girl's trick, and now she had really been named a phoenix.
'I'm a proud turtle, damn it!' Feng Huang sobbed internally.
Li Meirong finally asked the question she had wanted to know an answer for since the very beginning, as she once again felt optimistic about her situation.
"Can you tell me how to leave this volcano?" She waited expectantly for Feng Huang's response, her eyes glistening like obsidian jewels.
Feng Huang was a demoness who had cultivated for over a thousand years – surely, she would know a way to escape this place!
Meanwhile, the turtle in question was almost upset at having to hand off the bad news. Almost.
"You cannot." She gazed smugly at Li Meirong, tilting her bobbly head to the side as she hid a treacherous little smirk. Her answer had been delivered with the utmost seriousness, and her tone left no room for question.
Taken aback by such a final response, Li Meirong's cheerful grin flattened into a long, thin line, her lips pressing together to prevent them from trembling. She refused to believe she was stuck there. She'd starve to death!
"Is there really no way?" she asked desperately, feeling helpless yet again in this crazy world.
"You have an impressive aura, and your protective fire is not bad, but I can see the heat of the internal energy coursing through your veins. You haven't cultivated even a little, have you? There's no way for you to escape from here, unless…" Feng Huang left the end of her sentence hanging, suspending an answer teasingly out of Li Meirong's reach. Her red eyes were glinting with greed.
It was well known that cultivating humans carried rare and sacred treasures. She could fool this youngster into giving her all of her special artifacts, gaining treasures without a modicum of effort on her part.
Li Meiron waited, impatient but silent, for Feng Huang to finish speaking, hoping that the turtle would have a means for her to escape, and to ensure her survival.
"… you must give me all your special human treasures, and I will part the lava for you to pass through!" Feng Huang proudly declared, her already high-pitched voice taking on an even higher note, turning her speech into almost a squeal.
Delicate, slim fingers rummaged through sleeves and checked inside garment pockets, but alas, Li Meirong's hands came out empty.
All of her belongings were inside her backpack, which she had lost in the forest. Even if she had her things, the biggest "treasure" in her possession would have been her carefully-preserved meal.
She smiled wanly, and raised her hands, showing she had nothing to offer.
"I'm sorry, I lost my bag in the woods. I truly have nothing to give."
Feng Huang roguishly went straight for the true prize. She knew more than this girl, much more, so she wouldn't be so easily fooled!
"I will believe you only after checking your interspatial ring with my own eyes. Where is it?"
"… I don't have an interspatial ring," Li Meirong answered honestly, dejected.
Some of the fellow disciples in the sect carried interspatial rings; these mystical objects provided a storage space one could go in and out of, as if it was its own separate world.
The rings were highly valued items, and incredibly sought after, so only highly skilled cultivators possessed them. She could only dream of owning an item like that. How easy it would be to carry food and other necessities wherever and whenever she pleased, instead of almost breaking her back with the weight of a heavy bag every time she left the sect?
Li Meirong was only a poor, outer-sect disciple, she obviously wouldn't be able to possess such an expensive, unique item.
Determined, Feng Huang continued to probe. Her senses told her that the girl carried a dimension with her, and she, demoness that she was, was shrewd enough to fish the information out of her!
"There is no need to lie; I can sense it on you."
"But I really don't have one, Miss Feng Huang."
Li Meirong figured visual proof may be needed. Long, graceful arms reached out to grasp Feng Huang by the sides of her shell, making sure to avoid the sharp crystals growing atop the tough carapace. She placed the turtle on her lap, and began to fold her sleeves and unfold her collar, proving that she was not hiding a ring anywhere.
Feng Huang had gone slack-jawed at Li Meirong's boldness, unable to believe the audacity the girl had shown by picking her up so casually. But, from her new position, she could see that the girl truly did not have even a single jewel on her, and so she began to believe her claim of not having any rare, valuable artifacts.
Where, then, was the source of the heat surge, if not a pocket dimension concentrated within an item of wealth? The heat from this human girl was extremely abnormal!
"How odd…" Feng Huang mumbled.
Furthermore, the girl's helpless expression helped prove that she wasn't hiding anything, so perhaps she was not aware of what she owned?
Feng Huang placed a reptilian foot directly on the skin of Li Meirong's leg for better access to her energy. There was something truly peculiar happening here, she mused, feeling as if on the edge of a great discovery. She sent a surge of inner energy to probe that of the girl.
At once, the environment instantly changed!
Li Meirong blinked several times as, bug-eyed, she pinched her own arm to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
She looked down, and saw the turtle's crystal-covered shell in her lap, her position was still the same. She sat cross-legged with Feng Huang on her lap.
However, instead of being in a dark, damp, sealed cavern, they sat in a shimmering field full of flowers. It was a spring-like, daytime area, and they were surrounded by peach trees in full bloom. Small, pink flower petals fell softly on Li Meirong's dark, silken hair.
In front of them was a majestic shrine, made of ebony hardwood painted auburn, with ornate bells hanging across equally-ornate pillars. The pillars stood tall on each side of the shrine's entrance, and above the entrance, beneath the tiled roof, hung a fancy golden board. It was carved with exquisite, flowing calligraphy: "Bai Clan."
Intricate jade carvings of foxes lined the path to the shrine entrance, each one varying in shape and size. Every little detail about the place appeared carefully planned, from the trees, to the golden chimes hanging from the roof, to the pillars and the awe-inspiring entrance. Every detail was picture-perfect.
Li Meirong couldn't believe her eyes. This was probably the most stunning, most extraordinary-looking place she had ever seen.
"Hah! I knew I sensed something. I've never been wrong before!" Feng Huang was quick to recover, back to her lofty, self-important attitude. Her ruby eyes glittered greedily, and she had to swallow back the saliva that pooled in her mouth.
'Treasure!'